It can be a tough blogosphere out there if your blog isn’t getting any traffic.

Trust me, I know how frustrating it is.

When I started out a little over a year ago, I made this blog expecting to wake up with tons of comments and visitors. Obviously, that didn’t happen and I woke up discouraged. But, I kept doing it because it’s what I love to do.

That would be my one word of advice to any blogger starting out: Don’t give up.

If you’re discouraged like I was, here are some tips I’ve learned along the way to help drive traffic to my blog:

1. Tastespotting and foodgawker. If you’re a food blogger, I would suggest taking a photography course or doing some research on how to take professional food photographs. Getting your photos accepted on these two websites will benefit your traffic big time.

2. Post Often. The more you write, the better your chances of getting traffic are. First of all, the more you write, the more people have to read… duh. Second of all, search engines will pick up your keywords and send viewers to your site.

3. Join sites like Reddit. Don’t feel bad submitting your own content to Reddit every once in a while; there’s no harm in that. It will get you recognized and get your blog out there. However, do not post every single post you write on Reddit.

4. Add a StumbleUpon widget to your website. Check out StumbleUpon’s audience tools. They’re super helpful. Most importantly, add their badge to your site, just in case you have a few sweet readers who want to submit your website. All of their tools are very beneficial.

5. Google AdWords: Keyword Tool. When you’re writing a blog post, put a few of the words into the keyword tool and see if there are any words you could use that would draw more traffic to your blog. Use those words often: in the title, in the actual post, in the labels.

6. Advertise yourself on Twitter and Facebook. When you make a new post, tweet about it, make a status about it, email people about it. Do what you’ve gotta do to get your blog name out there.

7. Guest Posts. Ask other blogger’s if you can write a guest post for them. You’d be surprised how often they say yes. And if they don’t say yes, don’t worry about it, at least you tried.

8. Comment. Guarantee you if you comment on 50 other blogs, you’ll at least get 20 replies back. It’s as simple as that. You can’t expect people to write on your blog if you don’t write on theirs.

What do you guys do to drive traffic to your blog?

I made this Butterscotch Bark because butterscotch chips and butterscotch “discs” were on sale at Wal-Mart and I got a little sale happy. I didn’t really need them, but I figured since they were on sale, I should probably buy them. Luckily, they make for a pretty good bark. I love making bark because it’s so adaptable. If you don’t like butterscotch, you can add whatever you want and it will still be good.

1. Melt the white chocolate chips in the microwave or with a double broiler. Poor onto a piece of parchment paper and spread out with a spatula.2. Melt the butterscotch chips and drizzle over the white chocolate.3. Sprinkle the chopped butterscotch chips evenly over the top.4. Sprinkle and drizzle the optional toppings over the top.5. Let cool until the chocolate has hardened. 6. Break into pieces and store in an airtight container.